The Black Room
by g-na-1358
Summary: (ONESHOT) Draco and Hermione find themselves in a completaly black room, without any concrete memories. Will they remember what they were doing before they got locked up? Will they eventually escape their strange prison to go back to the Order and help Harry to end the war?


"What the bloody hell?"

I woke up a few moments ago and found myself in a funny situation. I was lying on the floor of a room, which I've never seen before. And as you can see from my first reaction, the room's not exactly 'normal'...

It is rather small, square and very, _very _black – walls, ceiling, floor – everything is totally black. Also there's no source of light, however, I can see every inch of the room well enough. Don't you think it's wierd?

Oh, and there's a door. Simple and black (obviously). So I walk to it and want to open it – however, there's no handle. And surprise! It won't budge!

As I struggle with the door, I hear something behind me. It startles me because I'm quite sure the room was completely vacant just moments ago, so I quickly turn around. Now I can see a person lying on the floor, right in the centre. "What the hell?" I say again. I'm sincerely surprised.

I decide I will just wait for the person to wake up and tell me how they got in here – just so I can get out the same way. As I lean on the wall beside the door, the person starts to move – they'll be awake in a minute. I take the minute to study them. I can see they have long, brown, bushy hair I have a feeling I saw somewhere before. Well, I guess it's a girl, if they have hair like that.

Now they are sitting up.

Yup, it's a girl, if that chest is something to go by. (What is strange though is that I don't feel particularly happy that she's awake – something to do with her ability to speak, maybe?) She looks around until her gaze stops at my form and she frowns. "Who are you? And where are we?"

I open my mouth to answer her questions, but I suddenly realize I don't know what to say, so I resort to the only truthful answer available, followed closely by an attack: "No idea. Who are _you_, anyway? And how did you get in here? I'm sure there was no one just moments ago."

"I don't know." She sounds depressed. Understandable – she's used to know everything.

Wait. Where did that come from?

We are both silent for a few seconds until she exclaims: "I think I know you."

"Do you?"

"Yes. I don't like you."

Ouch. That _hurts_. She doesn't even know who I am, but she _does_ know she doesn't like me! Although, when I think about it…

"The feeling is mutual."

We glare at each other for a moment; she looks away first – and notices the door. She stands up and heads for it, pushing at it when she's standing right next to me, still leaning on the wall. I raise an eyebrow. "You honestly think I haven't tried opening it? The door won't open, no matter how much you try."

"Shut up, Malfoy, I'll check it myself." I just stare blankly at her.

"_What?"_

She rolls her eyes but repeats: "I said: Shut up, Mal-" she froze and I can see her eyes widen.

"That's it," I whisper. "My name is Draco Malfoy."

_Suddenly I'm in a narrow corridor in a train staring in shock at the very same girl – although a few years younger._

"_What did you just say?" I asked disbelievingly._

"_I asked if you hadn't seen a frog. One boy, Neville Longbottom, has lost it," she said politely._

"_A __**frog**__? Really? Isn't Neville Longbottom a __**pureblood**__? He should have at least __**some **__class... A __**frog**__… That's something only a low-class like muggle-borns should have." I could see her blush for some reason. I actually found that adorable – if she was at least a half-blood… "Why are you blushing? My name is Draco Malfoy, by the way." _

_Wow. I was pretty stupid back then, just speaking about my past beliefs with a complete stranger… Even if it was just to keep the conversation going._

"_Hermione Granger. I suppose you haven't seen the frog. I'll go look somewhere else."_

"_Are you running away? Is there a logical reason or are you just so embarrassed to talk with such a handsome guy like myself?" God, I was __**so**__ bloody __**stupid**__! Which intelligent person would act so arrogantly while trying to impress different sex? Even if what they say is true?_

_She raised an eyebrow. "I just didn't get the impression that you would want to talk with someone who doesn't have magical parents." She turned around and strode away. I could only stare at the place she just vacated._

Now I'm in the black room again, eyes locked with the girl who broke my 11 years old heart with her heritage. Well, good for me – I don't like her for a reason. A reason not as stupid as blood prejudice. I know that. However, what the reason is, I have no idea.

"Granger."

"Malfoy." From her tone I deduce, that she remembered something too. And she didn't like it.

After that, there's silence. For about five minutes. Or five seconds? I don't really know. Try being locked up somewhere – nowhere with an annoying girl and you'll see what I mean. We just keep glaring at each other until I ask: "So, what about the door? Do you believe me now?"

"Malfoy, you know perfectly well, that I haven't tried any magic yet, and you _should _perfectly well know, that now, since I know who you are, I definitely won't believe your judgment."

She has a point… Two points, actually. Both with her faith in me and with trying magic. It just didn't occur to me.

Great, if she manages to open it with magic, I will be for an idiot. But we will be out of here… Cool. Now I don't even know what to wish for… That's it! I can always claim, that I was about to pull out my wand, when she distracted me with her sudden appearance. It's partly true, anyway. I contemplate this for a few seconds just to bring my excuse to perfection.

But wait. Why hasn't an Alohomora been said already? To pull out a wand, point it at the door and say 'Alohomora' shouldn't take more than two seconds… I look at her and find her in some sort of panic attack. Did I miss something?

"Granger? What are you doing?"

"My wand!" she shrieks, "Where's my wand!"

At that my eyes widen in horror and I automatically reach out for my own wand. It's not there, however I'm not surprised. But I am surprised when I hear myself say: "They have it. They have both of our wands."

She looks at me, confused. Well, I can't blame her, I'm confused too. I have no idea why I said that, although I know it's true… I hate this knowing everything while knowing nothing.

"And who are they?" she asks curiously, effectively pulling me back to reality.

"No idea, but we can deal with them when we get out of here, so would you be so kind and focus at the task at hand?"

"Oh? _You_ want _me_ to try opening this thing? _You_ think _I _have higher probability of opening it than you? Have you hit your head or something?" she looks me up and down, sincerely worried.

"No, I haven't. Believe me, if we had our wands and this was about magic, I wouldn't trust you with anything. I just thought it's more likely that you might think of something than if it was me, because you have read every bloody book you ever came across, since you are the biggest know-it-all bookworm there is."

_Again, I don't know how I knew, but it seems to be true,_ _because_ _now I'm standing in front of Granger in a small library. She's surrounded with dozens of books and currently she has one opened in her lap and is energetically looking around for another._

"_Seriously, don't you ever do anything else than read?" I asked, genuinely interested in her answer although I knew it was a 'no'._

"_Seriously, don't you ever do anything else than bother me?"_

_I smirked. "Why, I also do a lot of other things. That's the reason, why I do have a life, unlike you, the biggest know-it-all bookworm there is. Bothering you is just one of my hobbies." She didn't look like she was fond of my comment._

"_Why are you even here?" _

"_Because I am powerful and thus a big help to Potter and co.," I answered while rising a brow._

_She rolled her eyes. "I mean in this room, and you know that perfectly well, you git." _

"_Oh, that." I tried to look like I only just remembered. "Yes, well, Potter sent me. There will be an Order meeting In 20 minutes. And from what he said it seems like you will be necessary there."_

_I turned around to leave, but I can feel she wants me out, so I stopped at the door and looked back with one brow raised. She__** will**__ say it, if she really wishes for me to leave._

_It takes only a few seconds. "Thanks," she said reluctantly and I smirked victoriously. "You can __**leave **__now." Yes, I can. Mission accomplished._

Back in the black room, we find ourselves in a situation similar to the one in the memory. She is annoyed and I'm smirking. Yes. She has never failed to amuse me.

"Well, I don't know what about you, but I have found out two things," I begin, "One, you really don't do anything but read." She looks at me threateningly. I'm not intimidated. "Two, the Order of Phoenix. However, I have no idea, who's the enemy."

She nods. It seems like we received the same or a similar flashback. Good. It will save explanations.

"The second part is correct but I'm quite interested in the opposing side. I can't imagine what kind of enemy they are that they succeeded in forcing us to work together." The second sentence was more muttered than anything, but I could still understand her. A grin appeared on my face. I couldn't agree more.

"We will find out who they are, when we _open this bloody door_," I say with a pointed look in her direction.

"I'll get to it right away, Mr. Useless." That's mean. But not totally off mark either… But I will never _ever_ let her know that I agree with her on something. Especially on something like this.

So I immediately counter with a sarcastic 'Thank you'. Well, what can I say? No one is able to _always_ think up a clever comeback. Okay, so this time it _seems_ like she won, so what?

The problem is she knows, if that grin is something to go by.

But if I want to ever get out, I have to _let_ her win, since she's _finally_ focusing on the door. She's running her fingers over it, touching every inch of its surface, as if looking for some scratch or something. She won't find anything. The door is just perfect like that. Black, simple, _perfect_. Too perfect. It's not normal.

After a while she takes a step back, looking confused. And she agrees with my inner thoughts. "It's totally strange. It looks faultless, but not only looks. It _is_ faultless. And it's not a result of magic either, but there's just no way a person or any other kind of creature would be able to make it like this by hand or by any machine. It won't open by force. It's definitely locked, with password, by some kind of... well... charm for the lack of better word. But that means it can be opened from the inside."

I can only stare at her. How the hell did she found out so much just by touching it?

What did she say again? That it can be opened from the inside? "Wait, _what_? It can be opened from _here_? Which evil person would lock their prisoners somewhere, from where those prisoners can easily escape?"

"Well firstly, those people who are considered 'evil' are usually psychopaths, so normal person can't understand their ways of thinking. And secondly, that password can be just anything. A word, a thought, a memory… anything. It's not that easy to find out. It would be a pure luck to find it within a month."

… "You've got a point. So what now?" Really, what can we do, knowing this?

She just turns around, strides to the corner of the room which is most far away from me and sits down, back against the wall.

* * *

For the last two hours (Maybe more, maybe less. Really, I have no idea. I just like how that sounds.) we're sitting in the opposite corners of the room – some 6 meters apart – desperately trying not to look at each other… and failing miserably. It's hard not to look at the only (at least a teeny bit) interesting thing in a room. So we end up watching each other and doing nothing.

I decide that it's time for the awkward silence to come to an end. "Don't you think we should at least talk? Who said we can't be lucky and don't come across the password, or maybe we will at least remember something. Both of which could be helpful."

She glares at me but she can't think of any hole in my logic. And how she tries. I can almost see the steam coming from the wheels turning in her head. Then, finally she answers. "Fine. But _what_ do you want to talk about?" she asks cautiously. How well she knows me.

"Why do you read so much?"

She's obviously surprised by my question. "Why would you ask that?"

"That's so interesting! I really didn't expect _that_ to be the reason!" I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes towards the black ceiling. "But if you need to know, it's because I have a theory I want to confirm," I answer.

"Oh, really? I'd like to hear it, then." She has one eyebrow raised; her voice is full of skepticism. She doesn't believe me. Not actually surprising. But _she will _be surprised. I really _do_ have one.

"Well, I think that it's because even while you were still a kid, you were such a bossy little prat that no one wanted to be friends with you. So you started reading, which resulted in you being a know-it-all in addition to bossy, so it got even worse. So more books. In the end you became practically addicted and that's why you can't stop reading for five bloody minutes and get a life even now, when you've got some idiots, who _could_ be considered friends by some people, around you."

I look her in the eye. At least I try. She's looking at her hands and blushing furiously. I smirk. That's all I needed. Nonetheless, I want to hear it. And I _will_ hear it if it kills me.

"So?" I try to sound as if I didn't know already. I have a sneaky feeling that I fail.

Silence.

That won't do.

"You know, silence _is_ an answer too."

More silence.

She seems to be particularly determined not to satisfy my ego. Oh, but she_ won't _win. You wonder why? Because Draco Malfoy never loses. (And when I say never, then I mean _never_. Quiditch _never _happened. I have never lost to Potter. And I have never lost to Granger in _any_ lesson or argument. _Ever._)

"Granger, you agreed on talking. A conversation. A dialogue. That means two people. So far it's a monologue."

"What's your favourite color?"

"Green. What did you expect me to say? Pink?" I sneer. "Or red? Nice try, by the way. Now back to the matter at hand. Will you tell me your opinion on my theory?" I actually enjoy this. It' fun.

"You already know it, so you don't need me to say anything," she mumbles.

"No, Granger, I can't read minds, so obviously I need you to say something," I try to sound innocent. Again, not sure about the result. I really suck as an actor. I'm never going to admit this to anyone though. "Unless you want to tell me, that every word was right?"

"Not _every_ word," she whispers.

"That's a shame. I put a lot of effort into that theory." I've won. That was faster than I expected. "Which part exactly was wrong?"

I can barely hear her, when she says: "The reason I had no friends was that I was strange. Weird things happened around me, when I got upset. The 'bossy know-it-all attitude' as you so elegantly call it came later as a defense mechanism."

…Ah. That makes sense. I haven't thought of that. I have always been surrounded with wizards and witches, so nobody ever considered me weird or anything.

"I'm sorry." I didn't mean to say that out loud. _Definitely not_. It just really surprised me...

Fortunately she didn't hear me. She's still too preoccupied by her own thoughts. I need to get her to think about something else. If she starts crying… that would by the last thing I need.

"So, how long do you…" I trail off when I notice she didn't hear me. "Granger… _Granger_!" What the hell is wrong with her?

I start to stand up so I could come to her and shake with her or something, when she suddenly turns her head towards me and says: "I remembered something! I was talking to Harry after a meeting. He was apologizing for a mission assigned to the two of us in here." She looks at me with an expression which tells me that I won't like what's to come. "He said he was sorry_ just_ the same way as you right now. By the way, it was quite sweet of you." Shit! So she_ did_ hear me. Well, I can always obliviate her when I get my wand back…

"But back to the point. I told Harry that he didn't need to apologize for the partner, but for the risk, they were throwing us into. Apparently the probability of success was a little less than 5%. Cool, right? They really sent us there… I can't believe I agreed!"

"Great," I start with a hint of sarcasm, "At least we have found out the reason, why we are locked in here… What the hell is with this room anyway? It's so… weird. Just black nothing; it has a claustrophobic feel to it."

She looks thoughtful and then says: "That could be the point. It's supposed to make us feel uneasy – at the beginning. I think that if you were to stay here alone for a longer period of time you would go insane," she pauses before continuing, "We're lucky there are two of us locked in here. It would take a really long time to get to that stage."

However, it's _the_ two of us in here so it's highly probable one of us will kill the other, sooner or later…

Suddenly something occurred to me. "And do you think we will go insane _before_ we'll die of hunger or dehydration?" I raise an eyebrow and watch her staring at me as realization strikes her.

After a while of silence she answers and I'm quite taken aback with it. This situation is weirder and weirder. "I think we'll go crazy sooner. We've been in here for quite a while and I'm neither hungry nor thirsty… What the hell's going on? I don't get this at all!"

After another portion of silence I decide to voice a question, which bothered me for some time already. "But they locked us in here together, so insanity won't be their goal, so what is? How long do they intend to keep us here?"

"Don't know. Maybe they'll wait some time till we're frustrated enough and then they'll try to get some info," she pauses, then laughs. "Or maybe, if they know us, they'll just wait till we kill each other. The longer we'll be in here the less patience we'll have with the other. I don't think we'll be able to deal with this."

Nice way of thinking. I have a feeling I've heard this somewhere already… Oh, that's right! In my head! I knew it was a nice thought!

I smirk inwardly.

"It will take some time. I don't think they'll be so patient and moreover it would be quite pointless to even capture us if they didn't have anything to gain from it. I'd bet on getting info. It makes a lot more sense," I have to add my opinion. At least something, so that Granger doesn't appear to be the cleverer one. "But I also don't think they'll just wait for us to break down, it's not their style." Where did that come from again? I don't let this confusion show and instead continue. "When they are bored enough, they'll come and torture us to get some fun."

_As simple as this, I'm somewhere. Definitely somewhere. But __**where**__? It feels __**awfully**__ familiar…_

_I was lying on a bed. A large bed in a large but cozy room, reading a book. The room's color theme seems to be dark red with white furniture. Nice. That shade of red's my favourite colour…_

_Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a few second later my mother appears. Mother! Of course, I'm in my room at the Manor. That explains the colours. "Draco? Bella wants to give you another lesson in the dungeons. Right now, if possible…"_

"_Again?" I sounded disgusted. "Doesn't she have anything to do? How come she's bored so often? I'm sick and tired of all these 'lessons'. It's just so undignified to torture people, more so if it's just for 'fun'." _

_Mother looked at me painfully. "I know, but… please… he'll hurt you if you refuse to do these things," she whispered, tears already in her eyes._

_I sighed. "Fine. Tell her I'll be there in a moment. I just have to finish packing." It was true. I can see a nearly full trunk at the opposite wall. It didn't seem to be something to be finished till seconds ago, but as an excuse it was nice._

"_Thank you." She turned around to leave, but yet looked back. "This evening will be a meeting. Prepare yourself. The Dark Lord might call for you."_

_Suddenly I was completely horrified. That couldn't be true. "Why should he call for me?"_

"_There's supposed to be an important mission to be done at Hogwarts, and since you're going there for your sixth year tomorrow…" mother sounded just as scared as I felt._

_I was right. They'll torture us. And they'll enjoy me a lot._

"Malfoy! Malfoy!"

"You don't have to shout… And don't give me that look! I certainly _don't_ need you worrying about me. You could have just realized that _maybe_ I remembered something and that it_ might_ by important." And she's supposed to be intelligent…

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now tell me what you know!"

I smirk. "Impatient, are we? What' wrong, Granger? Irritated that someone knows more than you do?"

"Oh, shut up!"

I raise an eyebrow. If she really wants me to shut up, so be it. But she should realize she won't get her answers this way…

It takes her about five seconds to process this. "After you tell me about that memory!"

Once again I have to smirk. She really is rather entertaining. There aren't many people who don't bore me after a longer period of time.

"Of course, Your Majesty," I say in a mocking tone. "However, I don't think there's much to say. In fact, one word should be enough." At this point she looks as if she would gladly murder me, if it weren't for the information I have as a hostage. I'm seriously enjoying this. "Okay, I'm going to say it, so please pay close attention." That look's dangerous. I probably ought to let her know already. "Voldemort."

She stares at me for a moment but there's nothing readable in her eyes. When I wave my hand in front of her without response, I'm sure she doesn't expect me to pay her any attention, so I just sit again, with my back against the wall, to wait for her return to earth.

As I am with nothing to do, I start thinking. Where are we? Death eaters always took their prisoners to the Manor. This is definitely not the Manor. So they either changed headquarters, or they already reached the limit of prisoners the Manor could hold. Or we are something special. That is actually possible. I betrayed them, regardless the high position the Malfoys hold in the Death eater hierarchy, and Granger is the closest friend of Scarhead. Moreover the two of us are only ones with a brain in the current Order of Phoenix. What the hell were they thinking, anyway, sending us both to such a dangerous mission? And why did we agree?

And what was the point of locking us in a room which is so easy to open, theoretically? And our memories are steadily coming back. That means they didn't obliviate us. Than how come we couldn't remember a thing when we woke up? What the bloody hell is going on?

Argh! This is all way too crazy… This whole room's completely crazy, this whole war's completely crazy… But maybe it's not. Maybe I am the crazy one. However-

"You _do_ realize you're talking to yourself, do you?" There's amusement in her voice, but when I look up, there are tears in her eyes. I don't think I want to know so I just ignore it. She wouldn't tell me anyway.

"I wasn't talking to myself, I was thinking aloud. There's a difference." I hope she will forget it. I certainly don't need the whole Order to know I was talking to myself without even realizing it… Well, I guess I just have another thing to erase from her head…

If we ever get back, that is…

She smirks. _Smirks_. I can't believe my eyes! I've never seen her do that! I've got a good influence on her…

"Sure, Malfoy." With this she sits down too. However a little closer than last time. That means she sat down not in the opposite corner, but at the opposite wall, somewhere in the far half of it. So in the end, we're sitting some 5 meters apart, instead of the original 6. Great improvement, don't you think? It's true that I really don't care what you think, because _I_ think it's an unbelievable improvement in our relationship.

* * *

We're sitting in silence for some time already (Yes, again. It really happens quite often if you are forced to be in the same room with someone, who you're not exactly fond of.) and I'm getting bored. And I hurt all over. Really, they could have at least put a bed in here or something… How are we supposed to stay here, when there's not even a place where to sit comfortably? Well, I guess they don't really care, do they?

"Ouch."

"What's the matter Granger?" I ask mostly to kill time, really. Don't start thinking that it's out of concern. I really couldn't care less. I'm just so booored and Granger is the easiest (and only) form of entertainment provided.

"Don't get so cocky, you. I'd say you hurt enough yourself, after all this time sitting on the floor." That's the know-it-all for you. She just _has to_ let everyone around know, that _she knows_. It's annoying that she's usually right. How I'd love to tell her I'm totally alright, but such an obvious lie...

However she continues. "But it's true that my back hurts more than I think it should. It's killing me."

"_Ouch." I heard a female voice from somewhere far, far away. And I had to agree with it. Ouch! Why does my head hurt so much? Actually, it was not only my head. My whole body hurt, but the head was still the worst._

_I groaned and attempted to grip my poor head, however it was impossible – my hands were tied together. As soon as I realized this my eyes snapped open and I sat up. My vision was a little blurry but I could see that I was in a very dark and extremely cold room. And this time this definitely was the Manor._

"_So you're finally awake?" I heard the female voice again and now I even recognized it. And I'm not surprised that it was Granger. But what I __**am **__surprised about is how weak she sounded._

_My head turned around after the source of the noise so I could see the pitiful state she was in. Breathing heavily she was lying on the floor, in a small puddle of blood. Cuts where everywhere on her body, but those were unimportant. The blood was all from the big wound on her back. She was already completely white from blood-loss._

"_How are you feeling?" This time I really asked out of concern. She looked like she was about to pass out and those days it was really rare that we were both in the room and both conscious. We could talk now but it wouldn't do any good if it killed her._

"_Actually not that bad, but it's true that my back hurts more than I think it should. It's killing me."_

"_That's to be expected. How many hours has it been since they brought you back without treating it?" That's the one thing I didn't get. If they wanted info, why would they let her die just like that?_

"_It's been even more than you think. __**You**__ have been away for a long time and then you've been unconscious for even longer time. Does your head hurt?"_

"_Like hell… They must have been using legilimens on me the whole time. That would also explain, why I don't remember a thing about it ."_

"_I think so too. You even don't have any additional wounds. I'd say it's certain. I only hope that this time they didn't find anything in your head either. It would be a pity, after all this time we kept all of it safe."_

"_True." Moreover, it would fall on my head if they found out anything. At the end, I would only be labeled as the traitor. And after all this time, when I worked so hard for the Order to accept me… __**That **__would by depressing._

_Okay, so in this memory I've found out three things so far. One, even I can by quite self-pitying. Two, the oh-so-great-and-important mission with that oh-so-high probability of success __**surprisingly**__ failed and the two of us were captured. Three, they have already tortured us. (See? I was right that they would do it.) And we__** were**__ in the Manor. So where the hell are we __**now**__? And __**why**__?_

_Well, will there be something more going on in this flashback? It's actually pretty annoying to try to think about something while you have to filter your own past depressing thoughts…_

_At that moment, I heard a door open and light blinded me for a second as someone walked in. It was aunt Bellatrix. And that annoyingly sweet, totally unpredictable smile of hers was adorning her __**lovely**__ face. I hate that look. With this you never know if you should be expecting a punishment or a praise… But in this situation I'd bet on the former._

"_Draco, Mudblood, I, in the name of the Dark Lord, would like to thank you for your kind, or rather less-than-kind, cooperation. I'd also like to let you know that we have no more use for you. So than, bye-bye!"_

_With that said, she just left, leaving the door behind her open. Few seconds later, I heard the door to the hallway to close and the light was automatically lost again. When our eyes adjusted to the darkness we exchanged dumbfounded looks. _

"_What the hell was that?" Granger asked me._

"_No idea. But I suppose we could assume that they either found something out from me," I paused for a second. That would really be bad… "Or they have given up. Either way, for us it only means that they're going to kill us now."_

"_So why did she leave the door open? Does she want us to run or something? I don't get it."_

"_Me neither but we are wandless and our hands are tied up. Moreover, you're certainly in no condition to escape. You're barely conscious, so-"_

_Then I stopped dead in the middle of the sentence. The reason was a strange sound I heard from the hallway. I looked at the door, expecting the worst possibility. And I was right. That would also be why the temperature was so low in here…_

_Long, thin, scabby fingers appeared and griped the door frame._

_In the background I can hear the lock of a door opening._


End file.
